OCHA Situation Report No. 1
Chemical Spill
People's Republic of China


Situation

1. According to media reports, a large explosion took place on 13 
November 2005 at a petro-chemical plant in China's Jilin Province. Five 
people were reportedly killed, 70 injured and 10,000 evacuated in Jilin, 
following the explosion.

2. According to various reports, unknown quantities of benzeneof 
benzene, aniline, nitrobenzene and xylol spilled into the Songhua River, 
and have been moving downstream.  By 24 November, a chemical slick of 
80-km long, reached the city of Harbin (population: over 3 million), the 
capital of the Heilongjiang province, situated 350 km downstream of the 
place of the accident.

3. The Songhua River is a tributary to the Amur River, a natural border 
between Russia and China that also provides drinking water for the 
Russian city of Khabarovsk (population: 1.4 million), which is situated 
approximately 700 kilometres downstream from Harbin. It is estimated 
that it may take about another fourteen days before the chemical slick 
reaches the area of Khabarovsk.

National Response

People's Republic of China

4. The provincial authorities of Jilin and Heilongjiang have activated 
their contingency plans. Experts from the Ministry of Water Resources, 
the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), the Ministry 
of Construction and the National Bureau of Production Safety Supervision 
and Administration are working together in response to this disaster.

5. The intake for fresh water supply from the Songhua River has been 
stopped for at least four days, the water supply system has been shut 
down, and fresh water is being supplied to the population. In addition, 
water flows from reservoirs have been increased to further dilute 
pollutants in the river. Fifteen hospitals in Harbin have been put on 
alert and are ready to receive patients contaminated with the toxic 
material.

6. The Heilongjiang Provincial Authorities released CNY 10 million 
(approximately USD 1,239,000) for mitigation measures.

Russian Federation

7. Russian authorities have started monitoring the water quality in the 
Amur River, and established contacts with Chinese authorities through 
diplomatic channels.

International response

8. The Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit has offered assistance to both 
the Chinese and Russian authorities and is on standby to deploy experts 
to conduct activities that may be required, (including an environmental 
assessment) or to provide technical support to government authorities.

9. To date, no official request for international assistance has been 
received.

10. The Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit continues to monitor the 
situation and remains in close contact with a number of potential donor 
Governments and other relevant partners, including UNDP China, OCHA 
Moscow, WHO and UNEP.

11. This situation report, together with further information on other 
ongoing emergencies is available on the OCHA Internet Website at 
http://www.reliefweb.int.

Telephone: +41 22 917 12 34
Fax: +41 22 917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41 22 917 20 10

Desk Officers:
  Mr. Rene Nijenhuis - Direct Tel. +41 22 917 1815
  Mr Masaaki Nakagawa - Direct Tel. +41 22 917 4034

Press contact:
  GVA - Ms. Elizabeth Byrs - direct Tel. +41 22 917 26 53
  NYC - Ms. Stephanie Bunker - direct Tel. +1 212 917 892 16 79

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                   guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -